Articles

The search for a new word for the name of a political, social or cultural phenomenon is the essence of the communication process and the development of the language as a whole. But in each area of intellectual activity, this process has its own characteristics, depending on the cognitive, stylistic or cultural postulates of each discourse. In the conditions of non-rigid boundaries between the objects of scientifi c fi elds of study, the intensity of interdiscursive interaction increases, during which a figurative, metaphorical comprehension of reality makes it possible to identify new, previously unexplored facets of the objects being compared. The process of finding similarities and differences between the phenomena studied is at the heart of scientific activity, in its language, in which there is inevitably a stage of “approximate meaning” of the concept before it takes shape in the form of a term. The spontaneity of oral speech, variability and verbal creativity in the broad understanding of these phenomena contribute to the emergence of new lexical formations — quasi-terms. The epistemological value of a quasi-term consists in the absence of the need for its clear definition. Changing the context entails the appearance of terminological analogues and quasi-terms. The subject of this research is the quasi formant in natural science, philosophical and cultural discourses, its grammatical, semantic, stylistic features in Russian and French. The purpose of the article is to compare the semantic and pragmatic qualities of the quasi–formant, to consider its discursive variant, to show its heuristic potential for interdisciplinary interaction.

The article is devoted to the specifi cs of teaching foreign languages to Chinese students in a Russian university. The purpose of the study is to identify and rationalize the linguistic and cultural features of teaching the French language and culture. According to a common point of view, representatives of diff erent cultures are characterized by diff erent forms of strategic thinking (Vyach.Vs. Ivanov, A.I. Kobzev, L. Levy-Bruhl, K. Lévi-Strauss, Yu.M. Lotman B.N. and others). Traditionally, several types of thinking are distinguished: a synthetic, eastern one, which is characterized by asymmetry, imagery, symbolism, and an analytical, western type of thinking (its features are logic, algorithmic, conceptual, systematic). These features infl uence the stereotypical scenarios of intercultural interaction, including the process of teaching foreign languages. The article analyzes some basic principles of educational and pedagogical communication in the Chinese cultural tradition and considers modern technologies for teaching foreign languages, refl ecting national educational traditions. Possible diffi culties for students are analyzed on the example of diff erences in the systems of French and Chinese at all structural levels (phonetic, lexical, morphological and syntactic). To conclude, it is necessary to take into account not only signifi cant diff erences in languages of diff erent structure in the learning process, but also the diff erence in methods of learning foreign languages, due to nationally specifi c features of speech behavior, cognitive strategies and culture in general.

The aims to study the interaction of two factors — hybridity and border — on the example of language education and functional multilingualism. The theoretical basis of the work is the concept of L.V. Shcherba on the relationship of language education with many other disciplines. It is established that the phenomenon of hybridity is associated with the idea of overcoming boundaries, mixing, in the field of language education, with the heterogeneity of students representing different countries and regions; belonging of students to different cultures, including educational ones. It is also connected with hybrid forms of education — full-time and distant learning; the concept of bilingual and multilingual teaching of foreign languages and cultures. It determines the relevance of the topic in terms of cultural and methodological aspects. Taking into account the works of N.V. Baryshnikov, N.I. Gendina, M. Causa, D. Marsh it is shown, that the use of a multilingual format mobilizes the resources of several languages that are in a situation of functional complementarity; it develops functional plurilingualism which is supporting an integrated system of communication. The condition for this is the systematic change of codes, or languages, in order to master and transfer the content of a particular discipline (translanguaring). The concept of information literacy (littératie / literacy) is considered, which implies the use of information resources in foreign languages, including digital ones, in order to educate a person who speaks several languages and has several sources of information. The question is raised about the results of the transfer of knowledge and concepts in a multilingual context and about the quality of the formed knowledge: integrated or disintegrated.

This article discusses designing and developing an innovative version of a digital textbook for teaching foreign languages. The main difficulty at the moment lies in the creation and design of the online learning environment of educational institutions, which implies the availability of relevant online materials, in particular, electronic textbooks, which are fundamentally diff erent from those used in the traditional form of education. Only specially prepared educational materials, requiring signifi cant intellectual, time and material investments, help to overcome many difficulties and increase the efficiency of the process of teaching and learning of foreign languages remotely. The article discusses the structure, general principles of designing an e-textbook, analyzes the digital and pedagogical technologies that are most often used to create this digital learning tool. The form of information presentation, educational interaction, task formats, types of control and assessment in a digital textbook are different from printed publications. Therefore, when designing a digital textbook, it is necessary to take into account requirements extending to the content of an e-textbook (methodological); the design (pedagogical design or ergonomics) and the technical features of an e-textbook. Particular attention is paid to the methodological principles that determine the quality and eff ectiveness of the content of an e-textbook. Developed in accordance with modern methodological requirements, the content will allow the teacher to implement a student-centered approach, provide individualization and diff erentiation of learning, taking into account the abilities of the student, apply the so-called adaptability of teaching aids, which is impossible when using a printed counterpart.

The article is dealing with the main traditions of education in Russia. These traditions have been developing over a long historical period and are still living. The process of acquiring knowledge in Russia has some specifi c national features. Education has always been under the guidance of the state. Consequently, the main initiative for reforms in this area has always been directed from above. The education in Russia has always been based on the idea of patriotism — not for personal benefi t only, but rather for the good of Russia. Otherwise it would lose its main purpose. The main idea in Russian education has always been to bring up a worthy citizen, to provide students not just with certain knowledge and skills, but rather some moral principles.

It has become customary to give the translator’s name on the front page of both fiction and non-fiction books, as well as in journal, newspaper and magazine articles. It is only fair that translators should take their rightful place in dictionaries of quotations next to the authors of memorable phrases, many of which would have never crossed the borders of their native linguacultures without the aid of a talented translator. The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (ODQ), Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations (Bartlett’s) and Konstantin Dushenko’s dictionaries of quotations were analyzed as the most authoritative and popular representatives of British, American and Russian traditions in the field of lexicographic fi xation of memorable utterances. The study revealed the specific approaches of each tradition to the inclusion in the dictionary of foreign-language material, to presenting it in the original language or in translation, with the name of the translator or anonymously. Among the key factors determining the lexicographers’ choice are the epoch when the quoted texts were created, the language they were written in, and their functional and stylistic properties, as well as the position of the dictionary compiler/editor, the personality of the translator, and the prospective user of the dictionary. In the Russian dictionaries, the proportion of anonymous translated quotations, especially literary quotations, is lower than in Bartlett’s, and signifi cantly lower than in the ODQ. In addition, the Russian dictionaries often include several translations of the same quotation with the names of their authors, which is rarely the case in Bartlett’s and completely absent in the ODQ.

The paper deals with the issue of decoding and functional characteristics of such stylistic device as pun or play of words in a literary text, paying special attention to one of its main subdivisions — paronymic attraction. On the extensive linguistic material (more than 600 pages) the most important decoding stylistic functions of this phenomenon (such as evaluative, expressive, characterizing, etc.) have been identifi ed, and the initial hypothesis that paronymic attraction may be closely tied up with all the language system levels, not only phonetic, has been proved. Besides that, the role of communicative, informative and expressive functioning of this stylistic device was established not only in the humouristic literary texts, but in the most serious political discourses as well.

The article discusses the concept of cultural transmission. The language is considered as one of the tools for the transmission of values from one generation to another. The work is based on the materials of dictionaries and the National Corpus of the Russian Language. The research confi rms the thesis about the existence of fundamental culture codes, which manage its language and perception schemes. Understanding the signifi cance of cultural codes makes it possible to form and develop a national cultural identity, which contributes to the implementation of cultural transmission. Special attention is paid to identifying linguistic areas of concentration of cultural meanings. In the course of the study, it was found out that the internal form of the word and evaluative vocabulary open up great opportunities for establishing cultural-specifi c meanings hidden from direct observation. The meanings of words containing a subjective component allow us to formulate some laws of “naive” ethics. The use of words with evaluative semantics indicates the moral rules of the society or reveals their violation. The article also shows how values are refl ected in the formation of the ethnic style of communication. This work is deeply connected with such topical questions as the national and cultural specifi city of connotations, the means of their lexicographical representation, the decoding of speaker’s value system.

The article deals with the direction in linguistics focused on the description of the language for productive and receptive speech actions. The developer of this direction, Igor G. Miloslavskiy, proves in his writings that the classification approach is clearly insufficient to describe in full the language understood as activity. Orientation to the reflection of reality and to the understanding of speech activity as a set of receptive and productive actions lead to the understanding that language serves to ensure speaking / writing and understanding when listening and reading. Different initial data (meaning and text) require that the grammars intended for reception and production should have fundamental differences. The speaker/writer’s goal is (ideally) to strive to make an accurate choice of language units and ways of connecting them that correspond to his intention. For a person reading / listening, the most important task is to extract complete and accurate content from lexical and phraseological units in the process of listening or reading, as well as distinguishing between objective and subjective meanings contained in the statement. As convincingly, showed Miloslavskiy, the activity approach to the language, demanded by life and society, is able to ensure the effective development of the linguistics of the future. The article presents a brief review of the works of Igor G. Miloslavskiy and the main stages of his scientific and pedagogical activity, strongly associated with the Lomonosov Moscow State University.

Phraseological units are central to developing communicative competence, which is viewed as the main goal of teaching modern languages. They contribute to making our speech more figurative, expressive, and convey additional emotional, evaluative and pragmatic connotations, which determines an effective interaction with native speakers. In addition to the usual use, phraseological units are often subjected to individual semantic-structural transformations, which, in particular, are typical of newspaper texts. Acquiring the skills of using phraseological units, especially with transformations, is of particular difficulty for language learners, since this contradicts the perception of these units as ready-made and permanent in terms of structure and lexical components. Accordingly, this requires a deep understanding of their connotative, pragmatic, emotional-expressive and evaluative characteristics responsible for the transformations made. This calls for a methodically adequate presentation and the choice of practical tasks so that international students may use the expressions concerned in the proper form. The paper examines the common challenges that international students face when studying Russian phraseology. It also briefly reviews the types of transformations, and provides the author’s recommendations related to incorporating phraseological expressions, including the ones with transformations, in the learning process.

Area Studies is a relatively new academic discipline that is rapidly developing at the moment. It should be noted in this connection that the concept of Area Studies itself is often given alternative and even competing interpretations be researchers belonging to different academic schools. Despite the fact that the approaches used in Area Studies are rather different, though equally popular, practically all scholars working in the field have little doubt that nowadays the methodology of the discipline should be given special attention. It is of special importance for various aspects of source criticism since all Area Studies are based in some source of data and information. It is becoming more and more relevant in the context of the so-called Digital Turn and its influence on all fields of investigation. In Area Studies, Digital Turn has changed the source database that now includes digital sources. Digital Sources may include both digital versions of classical sources and those sources that do not have any material original version and are digital by nature. It should be stated, however, that the traditional algorithm of source criticism cannot be fully applied to digital sources that are absolutely unique in their nature. The paper deals with the difficulties researchers face while working with digital sources and formulates the objectives of a new applied discipline within Area Studies — Digital Area Studies.

This article dwells upon the functioning of precedent urbanonyms in the English-language mass media discourse and the features of their semantic derivation. The emphasis is put on the analysis of the use of the cognitive mechanism of metonymy to expand the existing meaning of a proper name and to form a new one. The study is based on the material of news articles published in the Reuters news agency in 2022–2023. As a result of the analysis, the main models of the metonymic shift are identified that are used to refocus the meaning of the urbanonym in a certain context. Precedent urbanonyms can be characterized by culturally stable associative characteristics. Their use for the purpose of nominating other objects leads to a shift in focus, semantic derivation of the name, which is not always realized by the recipient, but provides a field for the manipulative use of a proper name, in order to narrow its semantics or impose key characteristics of one conceptual- thematic area to another. Precedent urbanonyms are rarely used in the function of direct nomination in political news texts. They act as a kind of generalized (impersonal) source of information, pointing only to a certain state structure, not to a specific person, that also emphasizes the implementation of the password function of the urbanonym.

The purpose of this article is to present the basics of a systematic integrated approach to the study of the format and genre diversity of modern media speech, designed within the framework of a separate direction of media linguistic research — media textology. The relevance of the development of media textology as an independent direction is due to the rapid diversification of the format and genre structure of the modern media language under the influence of constant improvement of information and communication technologies and the emergence of new multimedia opportunities for the creation and distribution of media content. The theoretical and methodological apparatus of media textology is built on the basis of previous experience in typological description of speech media practices, taking into account the dynamics of media speech, the spread of new forms of media content representation and the peculiarities of its structuring, including the tendency to hybridization and convergence. The key principle of mediatextology is the selection of media texts proper from the set of texts functioning on the Internet, i.e. those that are created by professional journalists for online media and form the basic media content. Unlike other types of network texts created and distributed by individual users on various network platforms for personal purposes, network media texts are produced and distributed on media platforms that have the status of an official mass media.

The article is devoted to the problem of integrating ICT in the process of foreign language teaching in higher education and offers a step-by-step description of the pedagogical approach for developing academic writing skills of undergraduate students of the Faculty of World Politics at Lomonosov Moscow State University. The teaching a foreign language for special purposes to future specialists in international relations presupposes not only mastering a vast corpus of specialist vocabulary but also the ability to write professional texts of different genres. The article describes the experience of using the MOODLE e-learning platform which optimises the teaching of foreign language writing skills through collaborative learning and student-to-student and teacher-to-student interaction. By describing different stages involved in preparation of students’ research report the paper gives practical recommendations on how to organize Internet-based writing activities and use online learning as an additional tool in regular classes. on “Professional Communication in Politics”, specifying a set of tasks and exercises to consolidate writing skills both in-class and self -study hours, using an electronic educational resource MOODLE. The paper concludes that MOODLE platform is an effective resource that offers a powerful set of web-based tools for a flexible array of activities to improve the quality of English language classrooms and enhance students’ learning.

In today’s competence-based paradigm of language education, the priority direction is the development and formation of students’ not only productive foreign language speech skills and language skills that contribute to the creation of written and oral texts of various genres, but also the skills of interaction and mediation in the global digital space. It is possible to develop the above-mentioned skills using effective approaches, methods, technologies. Modern methodological literature presents an extremely wide variety of methodological models, pedagogical theories, specific technologies and approaches to teaching foreign languages. This article is devoted to the development of a general theoretical basis for the hierarchy of existing methods, approaches, methods of teaching foreign languages within the framework of a competent-based, communicatively oriented paradigm of modern education. The proposed hierarchy includes 4 levels, where the theoretical foundation of education is based on a certain psychological and pedagogical theory; the essence of learning activity corresponds to the general theoretical method, the principles of learning — to private methods, the learning process — to a system of tasks. Each level is responsible for a certain range of “didactic potential”. The essence of the lower level is the ways of implementing knowledge, and the up100 per one is the management of information transfer processes in the activity-based model of learning. This system is very important, because the hierarchically organized structure of methods allows instructors to understand how particular methods contribute to the achievement of the goals of teaching foreign languages. The article analyzes the psychological and pedagogical theories valid for the modern system of education — cognitivism, constructivism and connectivism. The typological characteristics are given for the classification of teaching methods, the main types of problem-oriented tasks are identified for the development of students’ foreign language skills.